Earlier this year OR Tambo was the location of a massive heist, where an estimated R200 million was stolen.

Then, in late March, seven people were arrested, including a police officer, and each given bail of between R50 000 and R100 000 by the Kempton Park Magistrates Court.

Remember? Of course, you do.

Now there is some more juicy information for you on this chilly Tuesday morning, and it has to do with yet another policeman who was allegedly involved.

A “confidential dossier compiled by a senior crime intelligence officer” informs readers that “a rogue crime intelligence agent who spent time in jail for committing a cash-in-transit heist has walked out of jail and straight back into his job,” reports News24:

Captain Morris “KGB” Tshabalala, who was released on parole last year after serving two years for armed robbery, is now a suspect in the R200m heist at OR Tambo International Airport that took place in early March.

Can you even?

The dossier was sent, on March 25, to Parliament’s police portfolio committee chairperson Francois Beukman – and there’s more:

The dossier also contains the allegation that Tshabalala was given his job back as soon as he walked out of the Groenpunt maximum security prison in Sasolburg last year.

He was also, the document states, paid his salary in full while he was in jail.

Let’s read that again?:

He was also, the document states, paid his salary in full while he was in jail.

This is what it has come to.

The dossier also states:

“Captain Morris Tshabalala got released on parole after he had served one-third of his sentence.

“What is being seen as corruption at the highest level in the police is that Tshabalala walked straight back into crime intelligence after serving just over two years in prison for armed robbery.”

Corruption, a word we are way too familiar with.

This information was confirmed by two senior crime intelligence officials:

“It is true that KGB is back in crime intelligence.

“Many people in crime intelligence know about it, but no one will speak openly about it. He drives around in an Audi A3, paid for by crime intelligence.”

Another said: “Tshabalala is back in the police. In fact, he continued to draw his salary while he was in prison.”

Beukman said his committee had received the dossier:

“We discussed it in our management committee, but that matter falls under the intelligence committee purview, and not ours,” he said.

When contacted for comment, Tshabalala said he was “fired” by the police “a long time ago”, but when News24 confronted him with documents contradicting his story, he put down the phone and refused to accept any other calls.

Now let’s get back to the OR Tambo heist.

Regarding Tshabalala’s alleged involvement in it, the dossier says:

“The current information is that the robbery that took place at OR Tambo International Airport recently where millions of rands were stolen, Tshabalala was among the robbers.

“There is circumstantial evidence that places him at the scene and this is known to the investigating team as well as crime intelligence management and the [then] acting national commissioner [Lieutenant-General Khomotso Phahlane].”

The City Press spoke to crime intelligence operatives who had cellphone data which had placed Tshabalala at the scene of the robbery. The paper also noted “a WhatsApp exchange between two senior operatives confirming Tshabalala was a suspect”:

“His cellphone records show that he was in the area. In fact he spent the entire night in the home of one of the suspects,” one of the messages reads.

You want some more juice? Give me your glass for a refill:

The dossier claims that crime intelligence bosses are now, after the heist, trying to cover up for Tshabalala by issuing him with a section 252A notice – which operatives need to prove that their undercover operation has been sanctioned and which grants them immunity from arrest.

The claim was confirmed by one agent who said he was aware of his bosses’ decision to issue Tshabalala with a section 252A to divert attention away from him.

While this isn’t the first time Tshabalala’s name has been linked to a cash heist, the fact that he was reinstated and involved once more in a crime as a police officer is really poor form.

But with a leader who is so corrupt, what else can we expect?

[source:news24]